How To Beat Your Repetitive Negative Mind? Part I

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Did You Know That 95 % Of Your Thoughts Each Day Are Repetitive?

Usual Thoughts

Usual Thoughts

Terrible. Right? 60.000 is the amount of thoughts your brain holds each day. And guess what 95 % are the same everyday. Yes, 95% of your mind is repetitive. Depressing? Right? But whats even worse is that 80% of these thoughts are negative. Nahh you say, that can't be? Well, a study in 2005 by the National Science Foundation says so. 
And if you start paying attention to your thoughts and feelings, let me know if they aren't. We humans get annoyed, worried, become in doubt, in despair, shameful, irritated, guilt, insecure, sad, envious, jealous, angry, stressed all the time, yes everyday apparently we hold thoughts having us feel like this. We often dwell in the past or the future, obsessing about mistakes we might have made, battling guilt or planning ahead. We are constantly drifting into fantasy, fiction and negativity. Consequently, an absolute minuscule number of our thoughts are actually focused on what is truly important and real: the present moment. The moment is all that is, every was and will be. Everything else is elusive and illusory, particularly as our subjective awareness and feelings are concerned.
You recognise those feelings and thoughts, don't you? Some people just fires up if the person in front of them drives too slow when they have to catch a meeting starting in not too long and some people gets annoyed when their partner didn't clean up when he came home earlier than you. Etc.. Apparently there are sooooo much things to get frustrated about. It basically seems like the human mind is wired for neuroticism. 
But, you might also be one of the persons that are really aware of your consciousness and also knows how your subconsciousness works and know how to manipulate and alter your state of mind to take control and be in charge and quit having these feelings and thoughts. But if you really do not work on yourself to discover your brain, you might be one of those people who copes with negative thoughts and feelings 80 % of the day. You really have to go through lots of self observance and hard work to get rid of them and live with happy and content thoughts and feelings. You might also be one of the lucky people who have no feelings at all only good ones and a quiet and peaceful mind, but believe me, there are not too many of you guys out there.

So seriously, whats wrong with us? And how can we really alter our minds? Is it even possible?
Yes as I mention above there is a way. It might have seemed a bit understandable when you read it if you have never been thinking about these things before... But let me break this down for you.
And to mention first, I find it really annoying that emotional intelligence is nothing that we learn in school or in our community or really not from our parents either, cause they haven't learned this themselves.. Sadly, it fucks us up. Depression is increasing, suicide is increasing, mental illnesses is increasing in general. Clearly we live in a society in which we weren't mentally prepared for after centuries of just living from day to day feeding ourselves, hunting for food and water and making clothes all day. And now things are moving to fast for us to even keep up. We haven't learned any tools to cope with our minds, to understand others and to truly be happy, peaceful and content within ourselves and in relations with others. This society have made us more isolated even though we are surrounded by more and more people everyday. And as we are people persons this is not good for our mentality but again, we really don't learn this in school and we don't learn how to do anything about it. How to get a stable mind and life. So, I'll do my best to give you some tips.
Being aware of this is what is called mindfulness. 

1. Do Not Believe Everything You Think
Basically 80 % is just pure nonsense. Never ever consider everything you think as real. Most of it might be shaped by society or your own insecurities or your egocentric and ignorant perspective on the world. Which might be complete bullshit. So..

2. Do Not Dwell in The Past
You can't do anything about it anyways. Up until now, there is no way we have a chance to go back and rewrite our past. It's possible in quantum physics but not the physics or which we are currently in. Dwelling of the past, is what makes you feel guilt, sorrow, 

3.  Neither think about the Future
The future is, believe me or not, actually completely unpredictable. Even though most likely a scenario where you while tomorrow walking down the streets get a brick in your head, you never know what tomorrow holds. You don't even know what surprises the next hour might bring you. So why worry or plan to much a head. Of by course covering your basic need you need to plan a bit ahead, like housing, money, clothing, educating, nurturing the relationships with the people you care the most about to keep the relationship healthy, educating you kid etc is a necessity. But besides this, there really ain't nothing else to think about, so why do it? You can not predict it anyways. Of course its nice to plan things to look forward to but don't do to much of it, cause as I said.. You dont know..

An important note is that: Anxiety and stress is future related, depression is past. If you live in the present, these negative thoughts will swiftly go away and content will enter you body and mind.

4. Get Your Sleep
A study tracking peoples sleep showed that after even just one night with no sleep made some of the test people psychotic. Say what? Thats insane. It's super important, it disturb your mental state so much, making it run faster and even more difficult to control. It also fires up your amygdala, which is the fear center of the brain.

5. Eat Healthy
What is healthy these days? There are all these different diets out there online each one of them claiming they are the best. Well, I will argue that you do it as simple as simply eat plant based, and keep the meat, fish and animal products on a moderat level. Why?
It doesn't just reduce your waste line or make you body healthy, but.. your brain aswelll!! A healthy lifestyle help build a healthy mind. Again its the same as with sleep. Give your brain healthy fuel and it will work with you, easier to get mindful and stress will lowers it gears.

7. Studies have proven that months of exposure to stress can destroy neurons in the brain permanently, which affects learning, memory, reasoning and impulse control.

Stress literally kills your brain, in addition to having severely negative effects on the rest of your body. When you’re stressed, your body produces more of the stress hormone cortisol which can kill, shrink and stop the generation of new neurons in the part of the brain called the hippocampus. Next time you feel stressed out, reading can reduce stress by 68% – more than listening to music or taking a walk.(source)

More to come later.

Will Future Technology Help Us Become More Present?

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The internet is flooding of articles on how to be present. All over you can find books telling us how to live in the "now" and lots of public speakers and workshop holders will try to teach you how to live mindfully but when you think about it, really.. Does it even work? The way we interact with technology today and how we communicate with each other through it is very isolating, isn't it? Looking at one single device all day not in each others eyes, not speaking verbally. Just glancing at one spot all day bending our necks and cramping our body in such unhealthy ways humans never have done before, all day. yikes. 
I read a really good article on how this has affected the youths of today a few days ago. With the title "Have our smartphones destroyed a generation?" Here is a little extract from it.
“I’ve seen my friends with their families—they don’t talk to them,” Athena told me. “They just say ‘Okay, okay, whatever’ while they’re on their phones. They don’t pay attention to their family.” Like her peers, Athena is an expert at tuning out her parents so she can focus on her phone. She spent much of her summer keeping up with friends, but nearly all of it was over text or Snapchat. “I’ve been on my phone more than I’ve been with actual people,” she said. “My bed has, like, an imprint of my body.”*
Well, what I wanted to pinpoint in this post is that I have a few thoughts of that there might be a possibility for it to help us turn this the other way around and that we will within a decade see a huge difference in how we communicate and how we interact with technology. I can't help but wonder, could this turn into a power tool for us to use when we want to be more present and mindful? Could entering an immersive reality for an hour besides our own function as a therapy? Not only do I believe so but I'm almost 99,9 % certain of (it might seem a bit crazy) that this will also make us happier and more social with our peers which also might help on living mindfully. After all, we are social beings made to explore our surroundings. Right now we just sit still all day almost, exploring only blue light and letters but that's a side track.


So here is what I think could happen; if we use VR & AR in a way which we will feel immersed with all our senses, it will be an easy gateway to get in touch with our inner child, by that I mean that children are always in an extreme state of presence which is where all the yogis, articles and public speakers want us to go. Actually kids are always present, right here in the now playing around laughing and inventing their own realities within this one. If you let yourself play and being entertained in a way were you can interact being in a surroundings you feel really captivating in Don't you think that you will become amazed and filled with awe and excitement, just like a child? To add an example to the table; imagine entering a reality where you dream scenario is coming through, for instance if your dream always has been to go to New York, you just put on your Mixed Reality lenses and equipment and boom you're walking straight into the city, without the hassel of going to the airport and flying for hours. And you experience everything as its completely real, the smells, the though, feelings, sounds, visuals everything. It feels completely real. Don't you think that you would become completely excited and paying attention to everything around you, at least for an hour? Just like a kid suddenly entering the playground? You get my point? This might actually help us get grounded and forget everything outside our own little reality bubble we've already built up, our normal life for an hour or so, or at least I think it's easier than sitting on a pillow saying ooooohm to reach a place close to living in "the now". Or what do you think? So perhaps we can use mixed reality as therapy? To get a break from our noisy minds? A reality in which we become fully present with our whole body? Imagine for those who can not reach a state of presence cause they are so captivated by their chaotic inner thoughts, always living in the future and the past simultaneously filled with feelings impossible to cope with. And then if you enter another world where you know you can just let go of it all, and you let go of it all cause it's so captivating and magic that there is no way you actually won't be able to not be present. Perhaps some people will call it an escape, explaining that you're basically escaping from yourself. But isn't it better to have an hour with a silent, mindful mind each day than not, have a place you can go to for inner peace? If you ask me, I believe it's gonna be a great tool.

I'm not sure if I explained this in a graspable way for you guys.. But in someway perhaps you understood? To add another example; imagine playing a game where you really have to focus and be present in able to win or to actually play it, or imagine running from a lion. In order to succeed in that very moment you have to be fully in the now to be able to cope with the situation. And if one create such an exciting an non stressful reality you will enter that state of mind? Don't you think? It is interesting how we will be able to use virtual worlds to actually be able to cope with the other reality we live in, cause we have messed our lives up soooo much that we need to enter different realities to be able to not struggle. Crazy how this all have turned out like this but it's amazing the how our new way of living will become. At least we will have options for everyone, and not only those people who actually manage to calm down and relax by saying ohm sitting in a lotus flower. The things is, I don't think that is too many.
Excited? Yes I am.

Week in Review - 13th of August

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News and content I've come across for the past week that I find sharable  :))

Climate change and airflights 

Climate change and airflights 

This week I did something that felt really meaningful, I helped create a successful technology summer camp for 13-16 girls. There were more than 100 of them and I helped on a workshop on how to create a facebook bot. They were really excited all of them and had a great day empowering feelings of mastery. This might help create a movement. TENK is the organisation behind the initiative and I really hope it will just continue to grow. More females with tech & science knowledge is just what the worlds need. It's time to change the status quo.
 
This week I read somewhere this week that Norway has gotten 20 % more rainy. Wtf? Well, so people that doesn't believe in global warming could go kiss someone's ..... he he. Norway is going to continue getting more and more wet and even colder.. Believe it or not.
Click here if you'd like to read some more about possible outcomes..
Also interesting; hot weather and climate change affects airline flights more than you think.

Anyways, whats up this week?

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Elon Musk's nonprofit AI company, OpenAI,  has successfully created a Bot that has beaten some of the world's greatest esport, Dota 2 players. The game is much more complex than chess or Go, and the bot's ability to win is indicative of the increasing power of AI systems. READ MORE


ENHANCED HUMANS

Exosceletons

Amazon Alexa can now communicate with an exosceleton.

Bionik Laboratories has demonstrated a prototype of its Arke lower-body exoskeleton that can be controlled via Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa.
Its in prototype at the moment but it already has a huge potential, from assisting the elderly and disabled +++.

VIRTUALITY

Mind-controlled VR game finally a thing! All though it may be a while yet before we can harness telekinetic powers in real life, but now a brain-controlled virtual-reality game is aiming to let us use our mind to pick up and throw items with ease. Read more about the invention by the startup Neurable here


ROBOTICS & MACHINES

Robots can take all forms and shapes. I love these animal like creatures.

 

MEDICINE & HEALTH

#BIOTECH

A biotech company genetically is engineering pigs so that their organs might work in people.
There is a huge lack in organs and loads of people die every day while on the waiting list to get one.. Until we can 3D print our own tailor made organs getting organs from the pigs might be a good in between solution, all though I'm not pro using animals for any humanish things. 

CRISPR, I LOVE IT. We are on our way to a periode of wellness, where illness certainly do not exists. CRISPR technology is a simple yet powerful tool for editing genomes. It allows researchers to easily alter DNA sequences and modify gene function. In the future you will basically be able to use it to tweak everything in your body. Watch the video below on super bakteria. Here you can also check out 11 things CRISPR has helped us do in 2017.

EARTH & ENERGY

The worlds largest floating solar power station is made in Japan. It was actually fully up and running in 2015.

Stretchable electronics.
As I always say the future is mind bending and also material bending (!) apparently.

Transparent Solar Panels
These solar panels are game changing. Please make no new windows without them!!!! That should soon become a rule.

 

FUTURE SOCIETY

China just used a quantum satellite to send data from space to earth.
"China just sent data to Earth from space using a quantum satellite. This successful use of quantum cryptography could make data unhackable, in a huge world first for cybersecurity and a major step toward realizing their global quantum network plans.
This technology could have huge implications in cybersecurity. Businesses would be safer online, and e-commerce would be free of problems caused by hacking and identity theft. The tech would also make it far more difficult for governments to spy on private communications — something that global leaders and agencies around the world have a vested interest in." Futurism
Quantum computing. Damn it, so beautifully amazing!

Scientists just hacked a computer using DNA. Wtf!?
"In what appears to be the first successful hack of a software program using DNA, researchers say malware they incorporated into a genetic molecule allowed them to take control of a computer used to analyze it... .. The researchers warn that hackers could one day use faked blood or spit samples to gain access to university computers, steal information from police forensics labs, or infect genome files shared by scientists.  " - MIT

#cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin has surpassed another milestone by reaching worth of more than $4,000. Many are still optimistic about the currency's future. I've invested in Etherum and I feel pretty good about it. The ROI has raised from 1500 to 9200. The highest amount it has reached so far was almost 12k. Not to bad right? :D

SINGULARITY HUBS PICK OF THE WEEK

A Lost Civilisation?

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Who built the pyramids and how they were built is still a mystery to us. I actually happen to believe that it is as simple as; an advanced civilisation either from earth or some other place did this piece of labour and all the other inexplicable monuments on earth.

Of course this might seem like a super controversial thought to many..And I have absolutely no evidence and I'm not 100 % certain of my belief being true at all but it seem a bitt odd that the Egyptians with super primitive tools manage to accomplish such mathematical perfection. Doesn't it? When we don't even know today how to reconstruct or build this complex buildings how come we managed in such ancient times? Graham Hancock share my thoughts, call him a fraud but at least give him a chance. Be my guest to learn more about this! I really really would like to hear your opinion!

What's your take? Have you really been digging deep enough into this so that your belief actually has any substance?

You can watch this video to learn more on how it's built..

To Live is To Suffer?

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This is not too far from reality though if you'd like to review it with the eyes of logic. 
To live is to experience physical and psychological struggles, it cannot be denied. It is impossible to live without experiencing some kind of suffering. We have to endure physical suffering like sickness, injury, tiredness, old age and eventually death and we have to endure psychological suffering like loneliness, frustrations, fear, embarrassment, disappointment, anger, etc.
Some people suffer a whole lot from what others call trivial problems but truth is, we all feel equally, no matter how big or large it seems to eyes from outsiders. It's always the same, all it depends on is really the perspective of the beholder. And some people have never experienced the most terrible and horrible sufferings which means that to them what they experience now is the worst and thus will appear to be such.

That life is suffering is also the First of the Four Noble Truths Buddism is built upon. The Four Noble Truths is the essence of Buddha's teachings. They are the truth of suffering, the truth of the cause of suffering, the truth of the end of suffering, and the truth of the path that leads to the end of suffering. Simply put, suffering exists; it has a cause; it has an end; and it has a cause to bring about its end.
 

Ending it with this quote by Viktor E. Frankl

Life Is Pure Entropy

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"The essence of life feels like love, looks like beauty and rings like truth."
Entropy is the probability that everything will devolve into chaos. It's the scientific term for Murphys Law, whatever can go wrong, will. You probably will at sometimes in your life think and feel that you have it all but that's when it all will dissolve beneath your feet. Life is and will never be perfect, for anyone. No one. Remember that. Everyone suffers. Everyone has their struggles and secrets.

Week In Review - 30th of July

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This week I visited Madrid, and you know what, it actually went beyond my expectations. (Read my blogpost about it here) Thanks, Madrid for giving me such a pleasant surprise. I've never been too fond of Spanish language either.. but now.. I happen to like it a tiny tony bit more. You know whats rather weird? When I came home I chose to watch Netflix to relax a bit, and first Tv series I came about was a show called Cable Girls, about the Suffragettes in 1920s. But to my confusion the sync was out of order, but that was right before I realised that the original story was in Spanish and the location of the story was Madrid. Wtf? Spain was following me? Anyways, I ended up binging the whole season. So beautiful and capturing story and deep stories within the main story too. All about human relations and that everyone has their own struggles. Also, the main characters are girls. YES! You should definitely check it out.. And uh, a side note: did you know Netflix is carrying 20 billion dollars in depth? I really hope it will survive because the Original Tvseries they're making is getting better and better.

 

So what's been up in science and tech this week?

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ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

The Musk-Zuck Clash
Elon Musk says Mark Zuckerberg’s understanding of the future of AI is ‘limited’
In a Facebook Live broadcast, Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, offered a respons. He called Musk a “naysayer” and accused his doomsday fears of unnecessary negativity. Musk then retorted on Twitter: “I’ve talked to Mark about this. His understanding of the subject is limited.” Tech titans protecting their brands?


Google Has Started Adding Imagination to Its DeepMind AI. Researchers have started developing artificial intelligence with imagination, an AI that can reason through decisions and make plans for the future, without human instructions

Another way to put it, it can now imagine the consequences of actions before taking them, something we take for granted but which is much harder for robots to do.
Read more on Futurism


Facebook kills AI that invented its own language because English was slow.
If I was an super intelligent AI trying to communicated certain serious topics I'd probably do the same. Human language are way too poetic, complicated and fragmented to do critical work with. Its limited. Digital Journal reported this.


HEALTH & MEDICINE

#Biotech

The first known attempt at creating genetically modified human embryos in the United States has been carried out by a team of researchers in Portland.

Scientists have converted cancer cells into immune cells. This could lead to a new type of treatment, called differentiation therapy.

 

FUTURE SOCIETY

The Biggest Facial Recognition System in the World Is Rolling Out in China
Uh-uh..  the government officials in China are taking the technology even further by installing a nationwide system of facial recognition infrastructure. I guess lots of people will say, but what about my freedom and privacy rights? Well, I'm sorry.. But I think, in a way this might be useful and great but also it will definitely be learning curve for every nation to watch and takes note from. 

TRANSPORTATION

Elon Musk shares footage of The Boring Company’s first working car elevator. I really hope its not too many years until this network is up and running. Getting the traffic beneath the ground will upgrade the city of angels immensely.

SINGULARITY HUBS WEEKLY SUM UP

 

JASON SILVA & SINGULARITY EPISODE 2

When In Madrid

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My family have these annually summer gatherings in various destinations. This time our stop was Madrid. My brother, Mum, Dad and I were present. My sister stayed home working.
I'm not too happy for Spain but surprisingly Madrid turned out to be very much enjoyed. I'm extremely interested in food and after traveling a lot to Italy I was expecting the same kind of food habits in Spain; old fashion, traditional, meat, fish, cheese and gluten everywhere. But this was not the case, apparently the "Madridians",  are extremely up to date. Even way more than Norway and 100 % more forward-leaning than Italy. Wherever I turned my head I saw signs with vegan, vegetarian, raw, gluten and milk free food options. Wtf? Ice cream I could eat everywhere. All my life when traveling with my family I’ve been struggling to find things I could eat besides vegetables, legumes, nuts and fruits. It has always been both a problem and disappointment. But apparently not anymore, now there is even more healthy options than that unhealthy shitty food. The world is moving forwards in a backwardish nutritious way. Back to our roots, eating vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruits etc. Killing animals will become rarer and rarer I believe as more people become conscious, it will definitely become a huge trend; veganism, vegetarianism and organic foods. I can’t say it enough; the future is PROMISING. 

So, where did I go to eat in Madrid? Sadly I visited for just 2 days but the places listed below where my absolute favourites and I ended up eating at the same places both of the days. They were all highly sophisticated places with top quality food, haven’t tasted such homemade delicious dishes ever since visiting San Francisco and LA. I actually felt I was taken right back there.
 

So, the hotel we stayed at, Only You (sounds kinda tacky but it was the complete opposite), was the coolest and most forward-leaning hotel I've ever been at, it had such a quality, style and personality and most service minded people. It has a huge bonus; a breathtaking rooftop restaurant with a view over Madrid. 

You can read more about the hotel here:
Only You Hotel Atocha

Dinner At The Restaurant On The First Floor
Home made quality food, you can’t find such food in Norway unless you eat raw foods.
They didn’t have too many vegan options but if you ask they will happily adjust and make delicious dishes for you, not add in that crappy soy or wheat kind of stuff.
I asked for a vegan nachos and they made this magical nachos with guacamole on top and black bean sauce with mushrooms and aubergine, and the crisps were really good tasting too, chili flavour. All was hot. Top notch, everyone loved it. 

My mother ordered this wonderful and extremely tasty salad, I have no idea which leaves it was but there was also flowers in there. Omg, so good. The atmosphere was calm and the service excellent. 

Only You Roof Top Dinner
Didn’t have too much here but tasted once more a really good salad my mother ordered and my father ordered som squid croquettes and another grilled vegetable salad. And once more. Top quality home made food, mind-blowing. Atmosphere GREAT. View over Madrid, temperature great and service excellent.

Only You Roof Top Breakfast
Wtf they had everything and really well prepared and good looking, they had almond milk, soy, and oats milk and they had porridge with oat milk and rice pudding. They had chopped all kinds of fruits and it all looked soooo classy everything home made of course. Definitely you should STAY at Only You Hotel. No better hotel. And you wont find better food breakfasts for sure.

Randomly we came across this Gluten Free and Vegan Friendly place  while checking out the other Only You Boutique Hotel in Madrid in Chueca area. One word, YUM. Heaven for me!

Celicioso - Gluten Free and vegan friendly Bakery, Café & Restaurant  
Absolutely everything was gluten free and they had loots of vegan and sugar free options too, muffins, cakes etc vegan burgers, Acaii bowls, Smoothies. Quality homemade is the word.
It is actually also a part of the Only You Hotels, no surprise really.
I ate two muffins, one chocolate and one muffins. Wish I could eat there every day. Getting sugar free, vegan and gluten free baked stuff is raaaaare. They also had a few different raw cakes. My mother ate a banana chocolate raw cake which was indeed a real treat.
(You can also find Celicioso in Ibiza and Marbella as well and they even had Paris Hilton Visiting them ha ha, its at their Instagram profile, way too funny)

Food Market in Chueca Area
Only locals!
There was an ice cream stand downstairs serving raw vegan and natural ice creams. I ate a mojito tasting ice cream one day and the next day pineapple coconut milk. Both were amazing.
I also ate amazing fruits, sushi and potatoes here. 

These are the places you MUST check out if you go and do do do stay at one of the Only You Hotels!

This Very Moment Is Your Life

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Some people are always looking forwards to what will happen, they're living with hopes for the future and in denial of the present moment. But what they seem to forget is that life is the journey of today, this very moment. You do not know wether you'll be alive tomorrow or even later tonight. Why so eagerly wait for what will come, when the only thing you're certain of is this very moment?
Pick up your phone and write your mum, or whomever comes to mind that you care about, a text right now and say how much you love her/him. The chance to get the message through is right now, you do not know about tomorrow or next year if you or the person will be alive. People who end up in constant regret only have themselves to thank. Don't be of that kind.
This moment is really all you've got.